The Fix
by Bojangles78
Summary: Following Peeta and Katniss in their tour of the Districts, and the complications that come with it, title from the Elbow song.
1. Chapter One

**Disclaimer- I do not own the Hunger Games, or any of its characters...but I wish I did!**

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_The berries slide down her throat. He can only watch in dismay as her tired body slumps to the ground, ignoring his desperate pleas. Trumpets blaze overheard, but now they mean nothing._

_Not without her._

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"Peeta? Are you alright?" I open my eyes and am unsurprised to see the face of my older brother, Christos, looking down on me anxiously.

"I'm fine," I mutter, and watch as Christos shakes his head before leaving the room. It is still dark outside, but I know I cannot go back to sleep just yet. I do not like my new room, it is too big, and far too empty in comparison to the small room I shared with my brothers at the bakery, but resisting the new house, especially after the berries, would have been monumentally stupid. I flick the switch of a small torch and pick up the book I began reading last night. It is fairly interesting, although the possibility of fairies being able to live underground confuses me a little. Still, Katniss told me that she liked it when they read it in her English class, and promised that the second is even better, and I find myself compelled to believe everything she says.

We begin our tour of the districts tomorrow (or technically, as a glance at my old watch reveals, today), and I am dreading it. It is like the Capitol want to inflict more pain on us, just because we survived- they actually expect us to meet with the families of those who...didn't win. Katniss flat out refused at first, but a sharp look from Haymitch soon persuaded her otherwise. Sometimes, it feels like those two have a language of their own, and whilst she has apologised so many times for what happened on the train, I often feel as if I'm missing something. Maybe it's because I am.

A few hours later my mother charges into my room, and she seems pleased to find I am practically ready to leave, despite that fact that I am not being picked up for another hour or so. She probably can't wait to get rid of me. The breakfast that follows moments later is silent and tense and I eat little, knowing that we will almost certainly be offered some on the train, and also because there really is not that much to eat. But mainly because of the train.

I wander over to the Everdeen house to see if Katniss is ready. In the weeks following our return I like to think I am welcome at their home, and it is true that Prim will slip me an extra pint of goat milk when she sees me, but I am always fearful that _he_ will be there, showing her a new trap he has developed, or something equally impressive. Luckily, when the door opens, there is no sign of the fabulous Gale, and we begin discussing the book (which I have now finished) quietly, as her mother is still asleep.

"Katniss?" Prim's small voice interrupts our conversation. "She...she won't wake up."

We all look at each other for a second.

"Stay here with Prim," Katniss tells me as she dashes upstairs to their mother's room, taking a small bag of herbs with her.

"Are you going to the Capitol today?" Prim asks me, trying to take her mind off of her mother. I shake my head.

"I think we're going there at the end of the visits. Do you want me to tell you about it again?" Prim nods eagerly, refusing to acknowledge the amount of time her sister has been upstairs for. I begin my description, careful to include the colours of the buildings and the clothes the people wear, as I know from experience these are her favourite aspects of the stories. After five minutes, I have moved on to the food, and later still I have to resort to describing the vehicles, though these have often driven (excuse the pun) the girl to sleep.

The doorbell rings, and Prim, who has been snoring gently, sits bolt upright. Katniss is still upstairs.

"I'll get it," I say. "You stay here, ok?"

I open the tall door and find Effie beaming at me.

"Ready to go then?" There are so many answers to this question, but I think only one will do.

"No."

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**AN-So...what did you think? I hope you liked it :)**


	2. Chapter Two

**AN- Well, here's the second chapter, sorry if it seems a little slow, although I'm quite pleased at having written more than usual :D Thank you to _Anynamouse_, _hungergamesfan51 _and _paramore fanatic_ for your reviews :) Hope you like this chapter!**

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Really, it is totally worth it to see the look on her perfectly manicured face. First, she takes a couple of steps back, adjusts her (peroxide blonde, at least, according to my mother) wig and, after several moments, snaps her mouth closed.

"What do you mean, _no_?" She half-hisses at me. It requires an awful lot of patience not to push her off of the step, but I remember how much trouble we are in with the Capitol already; murdering a Hunger Games mentor probably wouldn't go in my favour.

"I mean no, we're not ready to go yet," I reply. Her mouth opens, presumably to ask why not. "Katniss's mother is ill. They're upstairs at the moment but we don't know what the problem is." As I finish, I turn to see Katniss appear at the top of the stairs. Her face betrays no emotion, an act I know only too well she has perfected in the years since her father's death.

"She's alright, I think, but you'll need Gale or someone to come over to make sure if you can, Prim, is that ok?" Prim, the very model of a sister, nods once more, but Katniss is not finished yet, though now she addresses Effie. "Unless...if we were able to leave later...I could find Gale myself..." Katniss trails off, leaving the sentence unfinished, taunting my jealous mind.

Effie considers this for a moment, and takes a peculiar plastic device out of her bag which she holds to her ear and begins to talk to it, oblivious to the confused glances being exchanged between us.

"Right, well, I see, of course, I _do_ apologise. Goodbye." The plastic box disappears inside her bag again, and Effie turns to us. "It's simply not possible, we're on an incredibly tight schedule as it is anyway, and should be leaving any moment now, I am sorry, Katniss," she adds as she sees the rather impressive look of anger crossing her face.

This is very awkward.

Minutes pass, in silence, until an automobile draws up outside the house, out of which a doctor climbs, and I can see Haymitch is in the back as well. Effie greets the doctor, who is shown upstairs by Prim, and the Avox who has followed the doctor in picks up our bags and carries them out to the car. I try to help, but am brushed off by Effie, although the plain boy shoots me a grateful smile.

"Well, we'd best be off, then," exclaims Effie, and, after saying goodbye to Prim, we climb into the strange vehicle, careful to make sure our mentors are sat together. It is a large vehicle, where there are three rows of seats: the first for the driver and Avox boy, the second where Hamyitch and Effie sit together, much to each others' disgust, and the third where I find myself next to Katniss.

Within minutes, we have reached the station and our bags are carried out to the waiting train before anyone (well, Katniss and I, at least. Effie and Haymitch have no problem with this aspect of their lifestyles, it appears) can protest. We are then led on to the train itself, which I am surprised to find is fancier than the train to the Games, although I suspect this may be because the end of this journey will not end in certain death. At least, I hope it doesn't.

Soon after boarding the train we begin to move, speeding towards the south in a desperate bid to reach the first District by nightfall, which is no mean feat: if the Capitol was a day's journey away the District One was easily two. Maybe Effie meant nightfall tomorrow.

Our first meal on the train, which is called breakfast even though there is no sign of jam or milk anywhere, is quiet. Effie is mad at Katniss and Katniss is mad at Effie.

Haymitch is just confused.

"Would you like some hot chocolate?" I ask Katniss, but she declines. I offer her some bread, cereal and a thin, fried dough-like thing my father calls a pancake, but these are declined too. She hasn't eaten anything.

"Katniss, you need to eat something," I mutter to her, afraid Effie will hear.

"I can't," she whispers back, "I'm too worried about my mother."

"If it helps, my father and brothers offered to bring food from the bakery over when we're away. They'll make sure nothing happens to her, and she had a doctor with her as well." She nods, but a look in her eye tells me to stop talking, so I continue the increasingly sickening food.

Later, we make our way back to our various compartments, and I sit on the sofa where Katniss has curled up. I would usually say something, but I don't think there is much I can say. An hour passes.

"This morning," she begins quietly, "my mother...chose not to wake up. I saw her, last night, putting some leaves in her drink that we were told never to eat, only, she was eating them. Is looking after Prim and I really that bad?" She's crying now, although I probably shouldn't have told you that.

"Of course you're not," I mumble, not really knowing what to say.

"I should have stayed with Prim."

"She's got Gale coming over, and my father will be looking after your mother," I don't add that my father has wanted to do more than look after her for quite some time.

We continue like this until Haymitch pokes his head through the door, announcing that we are expected to go for lunch in ten minutes. I thank him and he leaves, avoiding Katniss's bloodshot eyes. She doesn't want to go, doesn't like people seeing her with her guard down, so I promise to bring her back some food as I hear her stomach rumble loudly.

The rest of the afternoon passes slowly, and it is dark now, but Effie tells me we are only halfway there. It must be gone midnight by now, but neither of us can sleep. It's like being back in the Arena again, neither of us knowing what might have happened by the time we wake up.

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**AN- What did you think? Before I forget, the car they went to the station in would have been like a Vauxhall Zafira, mainly because I didn't think anyone but Effie deserved the...pleasure of sitting next to Haymitch for the journey!**


	3. Chapter Three

**AN-Well, here's the third chapter, it's longer than the other two (over 1000 words XD) so I hope it doesn't drag on too much! Thank you paramorefanatic for reviewing again :) Hope you all enjoy the chapter :)**

I presume I must have fallen asleep at some point, as the next thing I know I am opening my eyes as Haymitch stumbles in to the carriage, swearing and shouting about how we're going to be late if we don't get our arses in gear soon. Katniss and I exchange a look of confusion, before gathering our bags and running out onto the platform, where a not particularly forgiving Effie is waiting for us.

"I'm sorry-" I begin, but she cuts me off harshly.

"It's alright, this time at least. We'll let that audiences figure out why you were late."

I glance at Katniss, confused again, until I see her stony face flush red. _Oh._ I try to protest our innocence, but am silenced again.

We are led through a maze of corridors, out of which I can see the sea sparkling in the bright sunlight. Katniss has noticed it too, for she lets go of my hand and asks Cinna if we can go down to the beach today. He says he'll see what we can do, but neither of us is hopeful. Many corridors later and we come to a halt, and a sharp tug on my hand tells me Katniss has realised why.

"_It's their families, Peeta,"_ She whispers, and I look past her ashen face to see to small groups of people stood impatiently.

The first family _have_ to be Glimmer's family- blonde, tanned and impossibly beautiful; they look as if they are sizing us up for slaves. Maybe they are; the Capitol hasn't forgiven us yet. The eldest woman, though she can be barely 30, holds out her hand in greeting.

"Good morning, Master Mellark," I'm taller than she is! I smile and grit my teeth as she continues in her patronising falsetto. "I am Mrs Hypatia, and these are my children: Star, Dazzle and Ocean." Each child grimaces (very gracefully, I must add) as their name is called and by now I am fighting laughter, as is Katniss, until I remember why we are here.

It is too late though, but luckily Effie brushes them off with a quick excuse about how we are still intoxicated (presumably with each other) from the night before and offers our 'deepest condolences' as she ushers them and the other family out of the room, shooting us a death glare as she does so.

"I guess the visit to the sea's off, then," mutters Katniss and before anyone can stop us, we have collapsed into laughter which seems to last an eternity. If only.

Later in the day, we are taken to the main square in District One, where we are greeted by the Mayor and our 'highlights' shown to the crowd, yet another way of reminding them that (this year, at least) we are superior to them. Of course, most of the people in this District are richer than us without even signing up for tesserae, but the full effect will be felt by the outer Districts.

You probably think we were being flippant earlier, laughing at the families of children our age that died in front of hundreds of thousands of people, but if I'm totally honest it's the only way either of us will be able to get through the visits, and as the week progresses they can only get worse. Districts Two to Four are fairly awkward, but District Five is most definitely the worst. Foxface (or 'Ashley Renard', according to her parents) was very popular in her District, with around seventy people of various ages believing I had killed her, despite mine and Katniss' desperate protests otherwise.

The worst has almost certainly been saved for last, and I know Katniss dreads the eleventh district too as I have heard her muttering in her sleep again, and sometimes singing the song she sang to Rue under her breath, when she thinks I am not listening. Still, we cannot refuse to visit the families, for the Capitol have not forgiven us yet, as the cameras in the corner of each carriage on the train prove. Even so, it is all I can do some nights not to throw myself off of the train.

The morning of our visit to District Eleven dawns the same as our last ten mornings: grey and bumpy, as the train rattles over the old track, and Katniss and I find ourselves leant into one another, as we both find it difficult to sleep after the visits.

Was it not enough for us to almost die at the hands of the Capitol? Why must they constantly remind us of those terrible weeks when we are the victors? Some mornings I wish so much that we _had_ swallowed those damn berries in the Arena, so that these Games could have been stopped, or at least hideously embarrassed.

"Morning, Katniss," I say as her eyes open slowly.

"Morning." She mutters back, before standing up and stretching, as she does every morning we are on this train. The dusty window shows that we are nearly as all either of us can see when we look out of them is trees. So much green, in so little space! In the last week or so, I have seen more than I could ever have dreamt of: glistening blue seas, arid yellow deserts and now these beautiful orchards; it is a lot to take in for a Baker's son from District Twelve.

Minutes later and we are being shepherded around the corridors of the least impressive of the tour's municipal buildings, although it practically eclipses ours, until we find ourselves face to face with the families of Rue and Thresh. I take a deep breath, and am soon being introduced to Thresh's mother and various half-siblings, all of whom greet us warmly. We say the words we have been told to say, but I find that this is probably the first time I have actually meant them; Thresh never hurt me, and he let Katniss go, for which I am eternally grateful. Mrs Terzo, or Dolores as she insists we call her, smiles sadly as we speak to her and tells us we will always be welcome in this District. I thank her and she ushers her children out of the room, leaving us with one more family to meet.

I glance at Katniss. She has gone awfully pale, so I take her hand and give it the same reassuring squeeze I gave it at the Reaping. I hope it helps.

Rue's parents step forwards, their five children following them. The mother steps forwards and seizes Katniss' free hand, but it is the father who speaks.

"Thank you for everything you did for our little girl," he says, and Katniss shakes her head slowly.

"She was the one who saved me," she counters, referring to the time she was saved from the Tracker-Jackers, but Rue's parents refuse to hear this, and instead proceed to introduce us to their children: Fleur, Anfisa, Oliver, George and Evie, who, despite being no way near as well off as their District One counterparts, far outshine them in their sincerity and love for their sister.

Eventually, Rue's family are asked to leave, and we are escorted to the stage, where all of this District's residents are gathered. Katniss walks away from me for a moment and presses her face into the wall, and I prepare myself for the reception we are likely to get. The Games are as popular here as they are where we live, so the best I can hope for is 'stale' or possibly 'muted', and I am right, although I see Mrs. Terzo and Rue's parents make the same gesture so many people made to Katniss after she volunteered at the Reaping. The video begins, and I block it out by reciting various passages from the _Hannay_ novels in my head, until I notice that Katniss has started to shake. We are sat on a 'love seat' again, so it is hard _not_ to notice.

"Are you alright?" I ask. There is no reply; it is as if she has not heard me. I begin to ask my question again, but am stopped as she falls face first into my lap, the sound of her and Rue's lullaby drowning out my calls to Cinna and Haymitch for help.


	4. Chapter Four

**AN- I am _so_ sorry it has taken me so long to update, I've got exams starting now-ish so I've been spending what little free time I have (thank you, crappy Physics teacher) revising. I'm also sorry this chapter's so short, but please let me know what you think of it. Also, thank you paramore fanatic, AJLL and hungergamesfan51 for reviewing the last chapter. Hope you like this one :)

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"Katniss?" No reply. They still haven't noticed- everyone is too busy watching us battle life and death on the screen, not realising that we could soon be following suit on the stage. I bend down to see if she is ok, and she stirs a little; we make brief eye contact. There is something not right in her eyes, and I realise with fright that she is crying.

"I can't do this anymore," she whispers hoarsely, before running off stage. I try to run after her, but am stopped by Haymitch, who has finally realised something is wrong.

"You can't anger the Capitol anymore, Peeta," he mutters to me, and he is right. Not only have we nearly outsmarted the Hunger Games, but we have shown the other Districts that there is hope for them, stirring up rumours of another Rebellion, although since District 13 was destroyed we have all been kept too poor to even have a hope of fighting back. Still, if we could get enough people...

A trumpet fanfare begins and snaps me out of my reverie. It's over, for today at least, and I must find Katniss. All of Panem will have seen her run off by now, and I cannot even begin to imagine how much trouble we will be in. None of this bothers me at the moment, all I can think of is finding her and making sure she is ok, and as I start running through the corridors her name beats in time with my own heartbeat: Kat. Niss. Kat. Niss. Kat. Niss.

Where are you, Katniss?

Door after door, I find only empty rooms. We're being so closely shadowed at the moment I find it hard to believe that she is far away, but I am beginning to worry. There are not many more rooms left, but I stop suddenly as I hear a sound from the room at the end. I try the door, but surprise sur-freaking-prise, it's locked. I try harder as the sound turns into sobbing, and before long it has caved into my supreme power.

Well, not really, but the door does open, and my mouth drops open as I see what, or who, is behind it.

"Well, hello Mr Mellark," sneers President Snow. "How nice to see you."

I nod and turn around, but the door has been closed behind me, locked again. A movement in the corner distracts me. I catch a flash of brown hair, but it soon disappears. I know it from somewhere, and when I realise where it is from, I feel instantly stupid, for I have only idolised it (and more importantly her) since I was five years old.

_Katniss._


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